


A Gentle Meeting

by Bronstiel



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 08:22:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8837440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bronstiel/pseuds/Bronstiel
Summary: When she arrives in the past, Lucina makes her first stop.





	

**Author's Note:**

> There's just not a lot of works for the Maiden mother and it makes me sad :(

     The night had fallen silent as Lucina walked along the dirt road, staring blankly at the stars above her. The butterfly mask over her eyes was slightly loose, but Gerome’s face was wider than hers and the mask was originally made for him, so she really couldn’t complain. She sniffed as the thought popped into her head, and the worry she felt for all her friends trembled at her eyelids.  
     Rounding a corner, the light of a village distracted her before the emotion could escape. She caught her cape with her fingers and lifted it to her nose, noting the overpowering smell of smoke and ash and, underneath it, the rotting scent of Risen flesh. She scrunched up her eyes and shook her cape out, hoping no one would think anything more of the suspiciously-scented traveller. At this time of night, she doubted anyone would be outside of their houses anyway.  
     It was late, so she didn’t expect anyone to really be outside when she entered the outskirts of the village. It had been a whole day since she had arrived in the past, and since Chrom was heading to Ylisstol before making the bitter way to Regna Ferox, Lucina knew she needed a head start. She also knew he would pass through this very village in just a short week on his way, which is why she made it one of her very first stops. It had hurt to part from the past-versions of her family, but she knew it wouldn’t be right to interfere so heavily with their lives. At least, now that Chrom was on the right path, she could begin her plan.  
     She had had to go out of her way to come to this village though, but she didn’t care. Chrom would come this way to get new cloth supplies for the Shepherds, and the townsfolk would rejoice that their prince had come their way. There would be a small spur-of-the-moment banquet in his celebration, nothing fancy, held at the town’s only tavern. Frederick and the new tactician would disapprove, Vaike would be found passed-out in a haystack the next day, and Stahl would keep the recipe for the marvellous mashed potatoes he had sampled at the banquet, and make them for all the children in years to come. Lucina’s stomach rumbled at the memory.  
     The moonlight bathed the dirt of the road in a pale light, making all colours washed-out versions of themselves. Lucina entered the outskirts of the village warily, but she had to remind herself that in this time, there were no Risen hiding behind every corner, waiting to attack. It must have been late, but from the lights she could see behind the humble windows, a majority of the people were still awake. Laurent would have called people on the road at this hour foolhardy or miscreants. She sniffed again as she thought of her friends.  
     They were all lost. She had no idea how they had all gotten separated. Had they all ended up on their own or was it just her? Were they looking for her? Had they even arrived in this time yet? Lucina didn’t know the specifics on how time-travel worked, but if she was alone, she assumed they all were too. She dug the point of her boot into the earth as she pictured Nah alone fighting Risen, or Yarne being hunted by the taguel-poachers his mother had always warned him about. Her lip trembled as she ducked her head, pulling her mask up and way to scrub angrily at her blurry eyes. How her heart ached, being alone in this time.  
     “Are you alright?”  
     The voice hit Lucina like a punch to the gut. She choked on the phlegm in her throat, whirling around on pure instinct to look at the source. At first, all she registered was the golden light spilling from an open doorway of the house she was in front of, the delicate hand resting on the doorknob, the flower-patterned dishtowel tucked into an apron. “Sir?” The voice was hesitant now, the hand clenching around the doorhandle as if worried they had made a mistake. The last thing Lucina wanted to do was scare this woman.  
     “I-” She sucked in a huge mouthful of air as she settled her mask back onto her face, coughing to ease her voice back into the lower octaves. “I’m okay, thank you, milady.”  
     At last, Lucina focused on the woman’s face. She looked young, far younger than Lucina expected- but then again, her own father had still to lose the last of his puppy fat- freckles dotting her plain features, nose curved slightly upwards, thicker eyebrows than she would have perhaps liked. Her hair was out of its usual maid’s braids, instead flowing softly down her shoulders, the colour of cornsilk.  
     “Oh,” The woman let out a breath of air, perhaps surprised at being spoken too so politely. Or maybe it was the dialect- Lucina knew she enunciated her words very clearly, and she probably sounded a lot higher-spoken than the usual travelers who came through this town. “I-I’m sorry then,” The woman lifted her hand off the doorknob to fiddle with the dishtowel tucked into her apron nervously. “You just looked,” She sucked in a breath, as if presuming she would be overstepping her bounds if she continued her sentence. “A little distressed.”  
     Lucina shuffled her feet, grasping the edges of her cape in one hand. “Well,” She coughed again. “I was just, um, worrying about a few of my friends.” Lucina didn’t see the harm in telling the woman a bit of the truth. It was she who Lucina had come here to find, after all. “They’re lost, you see.”  
     “Oh, my.” The villager looked genuinely concerned, but before she could continue a child ran past the doorway, thick brown hair sticking up all over his head, cheeks flushed red from what Lucina presumed was a bath. He stopped in the doorway too, clutching the woman’s skirt, and her hand immediately went to his hair, smoothing it out in a gesture Lucina was very familiar with, as one of comfort but also close enough to snag the collar of his shirt in case he planned to run out into the yard.  
     The boy stared at Lucina for a second, cocking his head to the side like a dog. She remembered those eyes- dark green, full of laughter, even at his young age. He watched her for a moment before patting the villager’s leg and darting back into the house, little feet thudding the wooden floor. Lucina let a chuckle escape. She knew him, of course, but in her time he was over six feet tall with a grizzly beard. He had been kind and compassionate, and told the best jokes. He had been one of the last to die.  
     “Oh, please excuse him.” The woman’s face was a bright red, embarrassed for the interruption. Lucina just smiled.  
     “Your brother?” She asked. The woman looked pleasantly surprised.  
     “Yes. Though most people assume he’s my son.” She said tentatively. “But I feel I am far too young to marry yet.”  
     Lucina almost laughed out loud at this. “Give it a year maybe. You never know- your future husband could be right around the corner.”  
     The woman looked at her strangely at that, and Lucina remembered she was impersonating a man. “Anyway, milady,” She bowed shortly at the waist, cheeks growing faintly hot. “I must be on my way. It’s been rude of me to disturb you for this long.”  
     “Ah yes, it is late.” The woman agreed, moving her hand back to the handle of the door. “Though it was I that disturbed you, so please, do not feel bad.”  
     “Thank you for your kindness,” Lucina stepped back from the yard they had been conversing over- the yard she knew her father would wander onto in just a week. “It truly meant a lot to me.”  
     The maiden seemed confused by that statement, a look of bewilderment clouding her eyes for a moment. “You’re… welcome.” She said after a beat. Lucina felt the tears welling at her eyes again, but she refused to cry in front of her mother. “Good luck with finding your friends.”  
     “Thank you.” Lucina almost choked it out, turning away as hot tears spilt from her eyes. She raised a hand in farewell, and heard the door shut gently behind her.  
     In a week, Chrom would come to this village to get new cloth supplies for the Shepherds, and the townsfolk would rejoice that their prince had come their way. There would be a small spur-of-the-moment banquet in his celebration, nothing fancy, held at the town’s only tavern. Frederick and the new tactician would disapprove, Vaike would be found passed-out in a haystack the next day, and Stahl would keep the recipe for the marvellous mashed potatoes he had sampled at the banquet, and make them for all the children in years to come. And Chrom- Chrom would meet a kind villager in the gardens taking care of her small brother. They would sit and talk for a moment, and in that moment they would fall in love. Once Chrom had defeated the Mad King, the first thing he would do would be to return to this village and ask the maiden to marry him- and she would. Less than a year later and the maiden would give birth to a baby girl, and there would be a time of joy and peace in the land.  
     And this time, Lucina would make sure they would live happily to the end of their days.


End file.
